Sunday, October 16, 2011

I'm in Poitiers, France now. Yesterday I ran a day of Zen for 10 people at my friend Arnaud's house here. It was very interesting and very tiring.

The people who attended the event were not zennies for the most part. I know at least one of them had done zazen at a Zen temple setting before. I think the others had done zazen but only as parts of other forms of meditation. Some were students of another guy named Arnaud, Arnaud Desjardins who was an interesting spiritual teacher here in France. He was trained in the Advaita Vedanta tradition by a teacher named Swami Prajnapad. But he also sat zazen with Deshimaru. So he taught that as well. Arnaud passed away in August. So his loss is still keenly felt by his students.

Some others were students of an American teacher named Lee Lozowick who based himself in France. Lee is the author of a book called Zen Trash: The Irreverent and Sacred Teaching Stories of Lee Lozowick. They gave me a copy yesterday. I haven't read it, but I like the title. Lee passed away last year, so his loss is also still keenly felt by his students.

They were a pretty sincere group. I liked hanging out with them for the day. But this was only my second try at improvising a day of Zen Lite for people who were interested enough in zazen to want to do a day-long event but too inexperienced to feel up to handling the rigors of sitting zazen over & over & over & over for the entire day.

Lots of Zen teachers would just say, "Screw 'em if they can't deal with it!" and make the participants do a full-on day-long sitting. That's what my teachers did. That's what they'll do if you go to places like San Francisco Zen Center or pretty much any training center in Japan such as Antaiji.

But I'm trying out something new here. So far the results have been just sort of OK as far as I'm concerned. The problem is that it's too damned exhausting for me to do three hours straight of dharma discussion with a group. So I need to find other activities that will work and still not be too goofy. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

The day before that, Friday, I was the guest at a soirée (literally) held by Giles Farcet author of The Anti-Wisdom Manual: A Practical Guide To Spiritual Bankruptcy. I gave this book a glowing review last year. Maybe I'll dig that review out and put it back up here. Although I think they should re-publish it with a catchier title like How To Ruin Your Spiritual Life and a funnier cover.

I gotta run. But I've included some photos from France. The first is to prove to my friends in Montreal that the stop signs here in France say "stop" not "arret." And that Kentucky Fried Chicken is called KFC here, not PFK*. The final photo is to prove to the world that there is no such thing on the French McDonald's menu as a Royale With Cheese. But there are several sandwiches called "Royal" including the "Royal-o-Fish" and the "Royal Deluxe."

*Actually everybody in Montreal knows this already. So the photos are provided for them to show the language police up there.

Brad, what if someone spent years of their past accumulating negative karma from shitty descisions and acts they committed while using their own ego to hide from reality, and after taking on zazen practice for awhile they gradually realize they have less and less delusions to shield them from the truth. All the hideous revelations of what they have done in the past are bubbling up to the surface and it is tearing their conscience apart. What the hell do they do man?

How can you ask more from a teacher? He even illuminates the relative veracity of popular film dialog. Thank you Warner. If you ever absolutely have to use one of those highly exotic Mysterious East names, I would dump your's (what is it? Go Go?)and insist on "Duh Duh." Or maybe "Bijou."

Korey said:Brad, what if someone spent years of their past accumulating negative karma from shitty descisions and acts they committed while using their own ego to hide from reality, and after taking on zazen practice for awhile they gradually realize they have less and less delusions to shield them from the truth. All the hideous revelations of what they have done in the past are bubbling up to the surface and it is tearing their conscience apart. What the hell do they do man?

You and me both, brother!

Sometimes there's something you can do, like apologize. But often that doesn't help. Circumstances can be complex. There are situations where it's better to let stuff go than try to re-involve yourself.

Guilt is a tough one to work with. Mostly you just have to sit with it. If you can be very quiet, what you need to do sometimes becomes apparent.

Warner, Do you realize you repeated the phrase, "So his loss is still keenly felt by his students" twice? Someone more cynical than me could read that as a play between the opposite and intended meaning of the statement.

P.S. One other quote from Rev. Tagawa's book "Living Yogacara" which seemed appropriate to Korey's question:

Nonetheless, we still have the capability of saying to ourselves “this isn’t a good idea,” and from this moment forth, being to recreate ourselves as new beings. Indolence is transformed to diligence, and laziness is turned into zeal…Despite the fact that our present self has been created from our past activities and experiences, the past is still the past. We are now actively creating a future that has a different quality from this past, and it will be the focus of our experience henceforth. (pg 92, trans. Prof. Charles A.C. Muller)

He was trained in the Advaita Vedanta tradition by a teacher named Swami Prajnapad. But he also sat zazen with Deshimaru. So he taught that as well. Arnaud passed away in August. So his loss is still keenly

You can do zazen without twisting your legs up that way. Even Dogen was clear about that.

Huh. I am glad you mentioned that. I've often wondered about the posture. Sadly I've attended a Zen sitting in my life. Feel like coming to Seattle sometime for one of your "Zen Lite" or "Zen N00b" sessions?

As 'proper posture required' was some time back are you saying that it is acceptable or not to sit on a bench/chair if you're not physically able to sit half loftus/full lotus/burmese?

And that this is still sitting zazen?

I'm just interested to know what you did mean. I would have liked to come to your sitting in England, but I struggle with many periods of sitting due to issues with my legs (24/7) and so didn't. It is some thing that would deter me from coming if you were to visit again.

That said I sit on a bench and if need be will lie down. it's still better than not 'sitting'

Hi Brad, I feel like I ought to say, as ino here at the City Center part of San Francisco Zen Center, that we would never 'make' anyone sit all day. If people haven't done an all day sitting before, we usually steer them towards a gentler introductory sitting first.